How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

It doesn’t get much tougher for the All Blacks than facing the world’s top-ranked side Ireland on their home track at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, but assistant coach Jason Ryan believes a bit of “variation” in attack can go a long way to delivering a positive result.

With coach Scott Robertson at the helm, the All Blacks have won their last four Test matches on the bounce, which includes two triumphs over the Wallabies. But more recently, New Zealand put 64 points on Eddie Jones’ Japan, and they beat England in a thriller last time out.

Some considered the All Blacks to be the underdogs going into last weekend’s match at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, as England looked to kick-start their international season in style. It was a tense contest, but the boot of Marcus Smith had the hosts in a prime position.

While the All Blacks clawed their way back to take a two-point lead after a clutch sideline conversion from Damian McKenzie, two missed point-scoring opportunities from George Ford saw England go down swinging 24-22.

On Saturday morning (NZST), the All Blacks will look to back that up by bringing a surprising drought in Dublin to an end. The Irish will likely be considered favourites by most, but coach Ryan has weighed in on what the All Blacks need to do so they can play their game.

“I think it starts from variation in your set piece. If you’re carrying straight away off a scrum or off a lineout, there’s opportunities to get on the ball for the opposition in the first two phases,” Ryan explained on SENZ Breakfast.

“If we have a couple of kicking options… that shapes the defence a little bit differently and if you’ve got a couple of lineout throws over the top to your midfielder, that gets them thinking differently too.

“It’s about shaping them, not being too predictable in those moments so that they don’t really know when to commit to the breakdown and when not to.”

The rugby history between New Zealand and Ireland is fascinating. For so long, the Irish fell short in fierce battles as the All Blacks reigned supreme time and time again. But that came to a history-making end in Chicago, USA, in 2016.

On November 5, Chicago’s Soldier Field hosted a famous Test from an Irish rugby point of view as the men in green won their first-ever match against New Zealand. The All Blacks have since lost four of eight Tests between the sides, but that includes World Cup matches.

New Zealand beat Ireland in the quarter-final stage of the last two Rugby World Cups, including a 28-24 result at Stade de France last year. But this week’s match is in Dublin, and recent history suggests that that bodes well for the hosts.

Ireland hasn’t lost to New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium since November 19, 2016. It’s true they’ve only played another two times at the venue in 2018 and then 2021, but it’s still a surprising bit of history the All Blacks will want to change.

“Everyone that’s here is tracking really well so all going well, by the end of the week, we should have a good full contingent,” Ryan said, when asked to provide a squad update after Beauden Barrett and Codie Taylor were made unavailable for the Test.

“Obviously a short turnaround so making sure that the boys are as fresh as we can get them in that recovery time from the Twickenham Test and as sharp as they will need to be so that we can bring an intensity that’s going to be right up there with what we’ve just experienced – probably a little bit more to be fair.”